The Lord Is My Shepherd

Everybody, as they prepare for the Passover, usually study Psalm 22. But when you study Psalm 22, I'd like you to continue. And before you go to Psalm 22, I'd like you to read Psalm 23. And that is one of David's most famous prayers. I was inspired to give this sermon by a lady who has been in the church. She was in the church for over 50 years before she died. She asked me to give this sermon probably five to six years ago.

And as I was putting it together, she even gave me a couple of books. She gave me one I know, a Shepherd's Look at Psalm 23 by Philip Keller, if you have that. Very good book to read over at this time. Also, Kushner's book and also Fred White's book on manners and customs of the Bible lands.

Because she was a rock. She was a very good mentor to me at a time when I started giving my sermons many years ago. And she was so wise that I would also turn to her before I turned to a lot of the men or even ministers in the church. Because she seemed to be able to put everything together in simplified form and cut through the chase and get right to the heart of the matter.

And that's what I like. So it's with Joan Bethiel in mind that I give this sermon because she died before I had a chance to give it. She died unexpectedly. And then it was probably a year and a half because I was so close to her before I could give it. But it's very close to me because she opened up my mind. She opened up my heart to understand why Psalm 23 is so important to anyone who is preparing for the Passover, preparing for the days of Unleavened Bread. As that, if we were only five or six weeks away, examination should begin.

And if it has not already begun. So, the Lord is my shepherd. Is He? She gave me the title because we just need to ask that question. It's easy to say it. The Lord is my shepherd. But answering it, can you say, He is my shepherd? Well, look, because you can understand that David truly had a shepherd over him. When he wrote this, you can feel when we break this down now, the inspiration he had and why it's so important. We had to find ourselves by certain things in our lives, don't we? Some people define their lives by their job, by their mate, by their car.

Even to find themselves, and I need one young man to find himself by a watch he was wearing. Because he wore, he just had an average job, lived at home, everything else, but he had a $10,000 Rolex. So to him, that's what defined him. You've met people that way. Certain things define them. Certain things you may say are a doctor.

He's a lawyer. Some people are defined by their children, their grandchildren. And some are defined by money. Who defines them? But rather, we, as God's call to our ones, are to be defined by our God. We are defined by God. But there it is, my shepherd. When you say that, is he? Is he really your shepherd? Do we look like his sheep? Rather, do we act like his sheep? Can people see to whom we belong? Can people see that God is our master?

When we're called a Christian or a saint. Does God own you? Does God really own you? And you have a problem of being a slave. Because Romans 6, 22 says what? You are no longer a slave to sin, but a slave to God. Hmm. Tells us a lot. So how can sheep use these verses? From Psalm 23, there's not very many of them. You can actually sit or stand and read this in less than 2 minutes, maybe.

But I want to encourage you to not read, but to study this. And make it, as I did this morning, a big part of my prayer. Yeah, some of us say, well, sometimes our prayer gets a little mundane. It gets a little repetitious. Well, there's so much in here. Take this. Take this for your prayer. And spend a day that you would normally spend in your usual prayer after studying this and take it to God in prayer. It'll really help open your eyes.

Sheep cry out when they're in trouble. If you've ever been around sheep, do we have anyone that raised sheep here? Anybody raise their hand? No, no, yes. Yes! Okay. It's one raised sheep. I raised sheep. There's a little boy back there that raised sheep. Okay.

Sheep cry out, bah! Bah! Bah! Right? That's what they do, right? You can hear them. And when you hear that, you know they need something. Brethren, does God hear you? Bah! Bah! Did He hear you this morning? Will He hear you this evening? What do they hear you through the day? A shepherd likes to hear his sheep. Because if he doesn't hear, he's worried. Because usually they do make a sound as they're wandering through. God, brethren, wants to hear his sheep. He wants to hear you. Even when you cry out, because when you're in trouble, that's when we need God the most.

Right, Brother Berta? So many of us, all of us can say that, can't we? We're in trouble, we need Him. And He wants us cry, we usually don't have a problem. Abraham, Shepherd, Isaac, Shepherd, Jacob, Shepherd, Moses, Shepherd, David, Shepherd. And that's interesting that David was a shepherd, because the viewpoint he gives in Psalm 23 is not from a shepherd's point of view.

He's riding it from a sheep's point of view. Yeah, he was a shepherd. This gives him experience on one side and on the other side. And brethren, it gives us the experience. As all of us have responsibilities, either for our families, for our church, for ourselves, for our children, grandchildren, as I know Chloe's back there today. Hello, Chloe! Oh, now I wrote Chloe up, okay? Don't we all have that responsibility, don't we?

So we're all married, but we also know what it's like to be a sheep. Can you imagine David's sheep? Can you imagine how they felt? Because as you can study all about sheep, especially in the Middle East compared to the way they are here in the West, they are treated somewhat differently. But a sheep's lot in life was determined by what? By a shepherd.

Because a lot in life, how he got along, was dependent upon the kind of shepherd that he had. Have you had a good shepherd, does that? His life was going to be pretty good. Because he could turn that shepherd, that shepherd would take care of him. Imagine David's sheep that must have felt very secure. They must have felt like, because they would have seen him, because what did they say in the Scriptures?

There was a lion, there was a bear, and he took care of them. He protected and even said that he took one, a little lamb, right out of its mouth. And David was a very compassionate man. He was a musician, a writer, a singer, a songwriter. Imagine him playing, because he was so good that he was called before Saul. Can you imagine? Most shepherds at that time, Middle East, as they still do today, have a little flute or some type of instrument that they play, which settles the sheep down.

And you can actually get them to move as you play certain music in the morning, as you get them up. And you can tone them down as you have this wonderful music you might be playing at night, as they all start to go to sleep. Can you imagine how well a good David's sheep must have felt? He was a very kinesthetic person. See, because the shepherds would lead their sheep, David would lead his sheep, where they were always safe.

Always try to take care of them. How much better of a shepherd? How much more secure should we feel with God watching over us? Remember the old George Gershwin song from 50 years ago? Someone to watch over me? I wish I could sing good. I would sing it, but I can't, so you don't want to hear that when I ruin the sermon yet. Someone to watch over me? That is what God does for us when we are His sheep.

It's interesting that shepherds count their sheep. I always saw, well, you want to go to sleep? Count sheep. Well, why? Because that's something that shepherds had to do. They even named each one. And as Fred White talked about as he interviewed an Arab shepherd even a few years ago, that they knew everything about their sheep. Every one, and one shepherd, one person by themselves, could take care of about a hundred sheep. He would know each sheep, and it's so interesting because he could say that he knew his sheep so well, so well that even at night he could tell by the sound of their voice, by the ba that they made.

Every single sheep. He looked every day. He examined. He checked any of his sheep for any mites that might be there, or parasites, or anything else. He would check their skin. He knew them so well that most of them had a name. One might be spotty. One might be cliff, because you might have had to pull that one out of a cliff when they were real young. I mean, that's what they do.

So there's this intimate feeling. Isn't it interesting that in the Book of Lenders, in chapter 26, God does what? He menders all 600,000 of the people that are there. Well, and what does he tell us? That he actually knows not only our names, not only that voice when we cry out, but he also knows every hair on your head. Isn't that amazing? And for some of us, it's getting easier to tell because we don't have as much hair as we used to. But he knows every hair! How wonderful. But there it is, my shepherd! I shall not rot.

Do you have wrops? What does that mean? I don't have everything I want. I want a new car! Josh wants a brand new Porsche. Okay, you can have it. When you walk out of the day, you just have it. Is that how it works? Oh, sorry. It's interesting because it's still one of us little girls. She's four years old at a Bible class. And they didn't want to put her in the class with the six to eights because they didn't have anything that young. But she was so sharp, she knew the Ten Commandments. She could recite all the steps that they finally put her in the class.

She found out she was smarter and sharper than all the six or eight-year-olds. Just amazing. And so one day the teacher asked all the students there, She said, can anybody recite the shepherd's prayer? Psalm 23. Nobody raised their hand but the little girl. Four-year-old girl, she said, you can memorize it? You can tell us it? Yes, I know it. She said, then tell us. Recite it for us. And she said, the Lord is my shepherd. That's all I want.

And that's it. She sat down. Isn't that it? Boy, that sums it up, doesn't it? We really understood that's all we need. It's interesting because what came from the Elizabethan English, and they would tie that in, but it began to be so known that nobody wanted to change it because it would be like for the what of a nail, the shoe was lost, as they would say. So what it actually means in our modern English is, I shall not lack. I shall not lack. The good news translation says, I have everything I need. The Lord is my shepherd in the CEV. I will never be in need.

Boy, hasn't he taken care of us? Sometimes we forget, don't we? In Matthew 6 and verse 25, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ said, Do not lack! Do not worry! God's in charge! God and God's in charge! He mares us! He's not going to let us get through something we can't stand, we can't take. But he also wants to peel that character that his other son had, that our elder brother has.

I found a sheep, look around this country. We are so blessed. So blessed! The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. Hmm. Jove understood sheep. He had 14,000 of them, according to Scripture. Sheep, very valuable. They had today, as they were even back then, because you had the skin, you had the wool, and then you had the meat. Very valuable. And it's so invaluable that it just shows exactly what Solomon thought of the temple, because that day that he dedicated the temple to God, he slaughtered 120,000 sheep.

120,000 sheep for sacrifice. Hmm. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. You know, healthy sheep gain weight. They grow and they eat green grass, and they don't have to run over here and eat a little stub of brown grass, and then they have to run over here and eat another little stubby grass. Why? Because they're able to go to that green pasture, and they're able to eat, and eat, and not have to run everywhere for their food. Like sheep, whether when we feed off God's word, we grow, don't we? We grow and we'll just eat more of His food.

Hmm.

Shall not want. You know, we are so blessed in this country. That is so different than the third world countries I've been to. And some of the other countries, here we actually have libraries that you can go in and pick up a book. And we're weird. Like bookstores. And only at Hastings. You have Hastings bookstore? No? Borders? Okay. And when at Hastings back home, I would go there in the middle of the day, some guy would just grab something for lunch, take it in there. They actually have big cushion chairs. You can sit down and go and read the books. Pay that book off, change it and you'll have to buy it. It could be some new book, all biblical stuff. You could go in there for free. And you could read all this stuff. And libraries, you could read this stuff. That and our pastures are so green here. You can't do that in other countries. Do we feed? Do we feed on all the green pastures that God gives us? Yeah, it's interesting that it talks about green because there's actually these colors that are called low intensity colors. And they actually help you to relax when they have certain colors. And any of you have worked in hospitals, you've worked in different things. They paint the walls in certain colors. They don't paint the orange and yellow. Ah! You know, because it's not very relaxing when they want to come in and put a needle about that long somewhere on you. Right? So they want you to learn to relax. I like to go to my dentist. When I go to my dentist, I make sure I close my eye and I don't know what a needle looks like. I didn't want to know. You know? But he had this...some men, different dentists, have relaxing music. He used to go to one a long time ago and actually put some headphones on you. So he didn't hear the drill, which was nice.

But there are low-intensity colors, and green is a low-intensity color, and blue, and tan, and brown. And where do we want to go when we go on vacations to relax? You want to go to the mountains where you have this green and you see God's presence? You go to the ocean and you see the blue and you see the tans. You see the beach. You see all the beautiful things. It helps us to relax. And that's what it did to these sheep. Green pastures. And then you have high-intensity colors, which is yellow, red, and orange. So people can't help but see them like they did the Jews in World War II. Remember the Star of David was what? What color? Yellow! White! Yellow! So they could see it. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me by the steel waters. He leads me by the steel waters. Does He? Does He lead you, brethren, by the steel waters?

Another translation said He leads me. He guides me beside these restful waters. You know, sheep won't drink from running water. They're scared. They're scared. I used to raise sheep when I was my uncle, or some relative of mine. I think he was an uncle. I can't remember. I was about 14, 15 at the time, I guess. And he moved sheep onto a property and just paid me a certain amount of money to take care of those sheep.

I didn't know first thing. I'd been around pigs, I'd been around cows, but I didn't know first thing about sheep. I got to scream the same way. Well, guess what? You can't do it. They're scared. Sheep are defenseless. They cannot defend themselves. They don't even have teeth. They just have a big old pallet here that's very tough.

They kind of just pull, pull grass. That's why in the West, they used to have problems. The ranchers did. They didn't want cattle. Where cattle was, they didn't want sheep come in because sheep would actually just pull it up by the roots. You have a whole plant where a cow will just chew it off. But sheep, they don't have teeth.

So they can't defend themselves. And when they go near water, because they're always scared, they're very scared because it depends only on their shepherd for their safety. They cannot defend themselves. And when they have all that red right around their ears, even, they put their head down in running water. They can hear the water, but they can't hear anything coming from behind them. So they're scared. What about us? We have a lot of problems in our lives. We need not be scared if the Lord is our shepherd. Is He? Is He your shepherd?

Sheep can't run fast. Sheep are also dumb. Dumb, dumb, dumb animals. They are so dumb. In the meantime, a guy has said that about me. That child is so dumb. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Why does he make those mistakes? It's interesting because at my father's farm at that time when I was growing up, we had a creek that ran through it. And when it rained real hard, that creek would overflow its banks, and it got very deep.

Well, on each side of the creek was food to eat. So I remember one time, a storm was coming up and lightning and everything started. You had to make sure that you brought all your sheep in because they would panic, scatter, and then they'd get lost because they had no sense of direction. A sheep cannot find its way. You see a deer path. You see a cow path. You never see a sheep path because they don't follow any path. They go over here. They go over here. They won't follow. And the rest of the shepherd or someone that they're used to is guiding them. Otherwise, they're just wandering off, just like, ah.

You know? Just having a good time. Where's my grass? And this time, I went to, okay, so I had to count my sheep because you had to be sure because something would get them, dogs, coyotes or anything. So I brought all the sheep in. Well, there it is. Where's the one? Because there's always one. There's always one that just goes off by itself. Always a trouble one. And sure enough, that one was missing.

So here I go, running over and it was pouring down rain and the creek was getting up and I'm like, oh, I hope. I hope he's not on the other side of the creek. Well, I run there and sure enough, the creek's up and it's probably at about the die level. And there's a sheep. Baa! Baa! Baa! Baa! You know, now I realize it's in trouble. So what I have to do, here I have 115, 20 pounds of me going over to get that sheep. Well, I tried to call it. It wouldn't cross that creek.

Scared. Scared of running water. It won't drink, though. It sure won't cross it. So then I had to cross that in about 45-degree weather, cold. And so I finally got that sheep and there's all I could do to pick it up. By that time it had been raining, the wool got waterlogged. Thing probably weighed 130 pounds by that time. Soaking wet. How'd you try to get it over the creek? Well, what happened? It just got to the middle and it, as they call it, sold.

It will just salt and just lay down to die. That's what they do. If they're even confronted by a wolf or even a dog, the dog will come around. And if it gets so slow, you will actually see the sheep shaking. And a lot of times they'll either fall out or they just drop down and they give up. They just salt and they're ready to die. And so this went right in the middle of the creek. And it stopped.

So then I had to try to pick it up. And I was free. I had to wrap myself. All I could do, it laid more than I did, to get it over, but it just wasn't going to help. Legs just... But finally I got it, after 15 or 20 minutes through the creek, onto land.

Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! Jumped up. Now it's ready to go. Baa baa baa all the way home. But I thought, how many times, because I mean, how many times did I have I sold? Brethren, how many times have we gotten to where, God, this is just too much? He's even better, but we're going to just give up. But He is our shepherd. He is our shepherd. He leads us beside the still waters. And brethren, sometimes we do need to be carried. And God will carry us. He will carry us through. Remember that.

We all need water to survive, all humans, all animals. And if we have water, we'll have a peace of mind. In Hebrew, the term, still water, means waters of rest and relaxation. Hmmm. Then we need that. God has not only promised us physical waters, but what? Living waters. Living waters. Eternal life. The Holy Spirit, as He gave to the Samaritan woman, gave her the challenge, as He actually challenged her to change her life and come after her so she would never thirst. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul.

Restores my soul. You read in Psalm 23? Do you ever need your soul restored? He restores my soul. Does he? Does he, brother? Yeah, in the 1960s there was a singing group called Sam and Dave. You guys ever know Sam and Dave from the 60s? Yeah, Bill, you do. Therefore, Sam Boyle was one of those guys. They had the song of the Soul Man. I was a soul man! I think who had it after that? Booze Weathers and Recreate was Hard to Beat Sam and Dave. They would sing this about a soul man because they were booze and they were booze musicians. They would be in the Beers Street in Memphis if they had ever been to New Orleans. Or you go to some concert or something and you'll sometimes see the bass player just, ah, they're lost! They're lost in the music. I mean, it's like everything. They're so tied up in the music. They're so passionate about it. It's in the very cold. And if you watch one, you see that, man, he's just lost in his own world. But in your soul, your inner being, it's who you are. It's where your passion comes from. Like David, he was such a passionate person as we heard before. In his kenestay, he was a passionate man. He said he was a man after God's own heart. That's why God said, Mary, first, come on, I want you to love me with all your heart, all your soul, all your might, all your being. Because God wants to love you that same way. Man, your soul, he restored your soul. Have you ever had your soul restored? Because really, only God can do it. Have you ever lost a loved one? Maybe you did, have we lost a loved one? A little over a year ago, my fifteen-year-old nephew. Boy, that's tough. Loved him. Some of you have lost family members. Loved them so much that it just hurt inside, didn't it? And you think, well, time will help you, but you just can't, you know, just get you. Because it's in your soul! You love them! It's in your soul! And you need your soul restored. And brethren, only God can restore your soul. You got some people out in the world, they never got over losing a mate. They couldn't. And some of them just died right off, because they had no one to restore their soul. God, brethren, will restore your soul. Maybe you've been hurt by someone. Maybe you've gone through a divorce. You know, divorce is like losing someone. And it takes something from you, and it hits your very soul. And you need to be restored. Maybe you're not yourself. Maybe someone's hurt you, even in the church so much. You've got to go to God. He can restore your soul. He will restore your soul. You just have to ask. He's that kind of shepherd.

A few years ago, wow, I'm married, I could remember now. It was in my 30s, I guess. Late 20s, early 30s. I was working out on a job site, and the man made a mistake on the job site, and I got electrocuted.

Got into some heavy electric wire, and I couldn't get out, and just grabbed you and realized you can't do anything. And next thing you know, I'm out. And then I wake up, and the oxygen is in. I'm getting oxygen in an ambulance.

Didn't realize it, but had some shoes, thankfully, that helped to keep... So it didn't blow the electricity out of the bottom of my feet. I had some shoes I didn't even know they were telling me. Later. But I lost my memory. I spent time in a hospital, and I never... I didn't even know who I was. Didn't know who Mary was. Didn't know who my family was. I'm just like you were lost. I lost myself for a while. Didn't know. I remember Mary telling me I want my Chuck back.

Bet she's regretted that a few times. But I needed my soul to be restored. I needed to be back whole. And God is the one that can do it. You know that I've gotten too far away from God.

I had to be restored. Haven't you? Maybe you're too far away from Him now. Maybe you're not so far as you say, Oh well, what's the use of me coming back to you? No. He will restore you. He will bring you back. We'll touch on that in a Bible study. You know every Sabbath, most of us feel a little restored, don't we? As we learned last week, refreshed. Refreshed. That's what the Sabbath is about. It gives you back time with God because sometimes we get so busy working. What? It carried away. We need to be restored. He restores my soul.

If you suffer from depression, and some of us have experienced that, you will go through things where you really suffer from depression. Tell God He can restore you, brethren. He can restore your sheep. His sheep, He will. 1 Timothy 1, verse 7, So God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and sound mind.

Sound mind. Your mind is not as sound as it needs to be. Go to God. He is your shepherd. It's interesting because in one of the books here I read is there's a story because there's usually a lead shepherd, and that's the shepherd that the sheep all follow. It's as boy as they know. And then there's an under shepherd. That is his job, to watch them, take care of them, sit at night, and help them wherever he can. But he's an under shepherd, as it's called.

But rather here in Full Lauderdale, I am the under shepherd. I am not your shepherd. I am not the lead shepherd. God is your shepherd. The Lord is your shepherd. Look to him! I might let you down. I probably will let you down.

He will never let you down. When I teach you, I want to teach you from his word because he's my shepherd. He's the head shepherd. He's the lead shepherd. I'm the under shepherd. I'm here to help you any way that I can. But you know, when you need help from me, I have to pray and I have to go to the book. That's where I go to him. This is the time of year, brethren, for passion. This is the time of year when you need to stir up the passion.

As a deer pants for water, serve, I serve, pants for you, God. Do we ever feel that way? We should as we get to the Passover. As we rededicate ourselves, we rededicate our lives to God. You know, God restored David's soul more than once. I'm sure David thought he lost his soul with Absalom. Psalm 51, he realized he had to have his soul restored.

He restored David's soul, restored John's soul, he restored Elijah's soul. And he can restore your soul, brethren. He leads you in the paths of righteousness. Ever gone down the wrong path in life? We all have, haven't we? You may be there right now.

If you are, he will lead you in the paths of righteousness. Look to the shepherd, the book. You know, I got lost when I was seven years old at the Indiana State Fair. I first got on a ride, I jumped off the other side, my parents didn't know where in the world I was.

There was a couple hundred thousand people there. And there I had little money in my little pocket. So I was going around and going, this is great. Didn't know his fear. When I tried to get on these rides, they wouldn't let me on because it was too small. And I was like walking around the whole thing, and here my parents were frantically worried, and here I am just sitting there, great. Brethren, I was lost, but I didn't know it. Later on, a policeman found me and took me over to where a bunch of other crying kids were.

I wasn't crying. I was a good time dog. They had to give you ice cream. I said, yeah, this is a good deal. And now it's my parents' father. I said, what's your dad's name? I said, dad. You know? I mean, I was a seven-year-old kid. I was lost, but I didn't know it. Brethren, so is the world. They just don't know it. They don't know it. That's why it's good that we can be a light to the world.

We can help them, point them to God, not to us, to God. That's what's important. You know, we as God's people can never get lost if we have God's Word to guide us. That's where we need to look. And He will lead us down the right road. Sometimes we get so caught up. Psalm 119, 105 says, Your Lord is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

That's why David said, You are my lamp, O Lord. Did we look to Him as our lamp? You know, Ralph Waldo Emerson said it best when he said, Life consists of what you are thinking about, O Lord.

Hmm. Where does God fit in? Hopefully it's more than just one day. Remember when you needed a night light? I did when I was younger. Don, you probably never needed a night light, did you? You did need a night light. Well, I thought I was the only one. I just watched scary movies because my parents let me way back when we knew anything about watching that jump. I just knew a creature from the black lagoon was going to crawl out of my closet any time.

And so, I finally had a nightmare. I needed a night light. Well, guess what? Brethren, we still have a night light. And that's God. He is our lamp. You can't sleep at night? Think of your Bible and turn to God. He'll help you through. He will help you through. Imagine David. Imagine David out there.

Here he is, a 13, 14-year-old kid with his sheep, with wolves, bears, anything else out there? And he's taking care of those sheep. Imagine him looking up. Can you imagine out on... When you get away from the city and you're out there by yourself, the night lights he saw with all those stars, and a shepherd was right up there amongst all the stars? That's why he was so close to God. For his name's sake, he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

That is not about us. We are here so that men may see. Our light shine and glorify our Father, as the Scripture says. His name pretty important to you? We are the president from Tennessee, named Andrew Jackson. Oh, Hickory, as they called him. He had a problem. He had temper. And he survived over 13 duels in his life. Most of them over is with his wife, Rachel. His men would besmirch his wife, because they wanted to get to him.

And so then he would just call you out for a duel. And the two men would sit there with a gun, so far they'd fire, and someone would have honor, they said. How politicians did it then? Wouldn't that be nice sometimes when we did politicians to do it today? We'd have a whole lot less politicians or a whole lot less arguing, wouldn't we? Hmm. Are you proud of your Father's name? Had you had a stand-up for his name lately? Or ever been embarrassed or ashamed? Ever had to repent because you just kind of chided back?

He didn't stand up for his name because it might make someone feel uncomfortable? What a name! What a Father we have! What a shepherd we have! I graduated from Oakland High School in 1977. And graduated and gave us this little tassel that was on your gown, your cap, rather. And I remember all the seniors, they'd put it on your windshield. You'd put it up in your front of your windshield. And pretty soon, I just didn't even think anything about it.

It turned, we were red, white, and blue, and it turned pink and all these other colors. And it's got always like, I'm past that. I grew that. You know, you kind of took it down because I... Have we done that about the Passover sometimes? We've just taken the Passover in God's Holy Days just a little bit for granted. We just got like, oh, that's kind of old hat, you know, I've been through that.

I just throw a couple things out of the refrigerator and pray an extra 10 minutes during the day. And I got it covered. That's His name. He called you. That's why it needs to be special. Passover. We better never outgrow it, mentally, spiritually, or physically. God is my shepherd, is He?

Verse 4, that I have not through the body of a shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Hmm. Interesting. I've used these verses a few times when I've done funerals. Because as I tell everybody there, guess what? You're in the shadow of death. Because that person should remind you. It can be you, too.

But for the grace of God, there you go, huh? I worked with a guy named John Fitzgerald. He was a staff sergeant in Vietnam. I was younger. I was in my 20s when I was 20, and he was hired. He retired the service, but he couldn't stay home.

So he got a job with our company. And I found some amazing things out as he spent...he did four tours in Vietnam. One of the last tours he did, he actually took them in from basic training and took them all the way over to the jungles. They were hoping they could save more men because so many men would walk around and forget what they were taught by their drill sergeant and get out there.

And so many useless dismemberments, useless deaths. So John said to actually send him. And so he would just go, tell them and tell them and tell them. Don't walk together. Don't talk when they walk out through the jungle. Don't spread out. Look. Look down for traps, for booby traps, for anything. Look, look, look. He said pretty soon everybody just got so accustomed to going home. They kind of knew this thing. They'd just be sitting there talking. They'd have a cigarette and just walking down there. Boom!

He would lose one. All because they didn't listen. As he killed them many times.

Listen to the inner voice. I have told you, that drilled you and drilled you. It's inside you. Listen to that voice. And you'll come out of here alive. You'll come out in one piece. Brethren, listen to the inner voice. God gave you His Holy Spirit. It will teach you. It will guide you. It will walk you through the valley of a shadow of death. My favorite Elisha story is when he has that servant and they're surrounded. And he said, Do not fear for those who are with us or more than those with them. Elisha knew the inner voice. Why? Because the Lord is our Shepherd. We go through some very dangerous times.

Like if you were trying to follow myself and Mary the other night. If we were trying to find our way through here with two cars loaded down in the middle of the night driving here.

For some it might have been the valley of shadow of death the way we were driving. Trying to find this and GPS to wait until you turn off here and it was another 50 foot down.

We've all experienced those things. But God will see us through, brother.

For though I walk through the valley of shadow of death, I fear no evil. So you are with me. You're riding your staff. They comfort me.

Could I get those?

No, I did not bring these because my wife's here and I can... that's what I use to control my household.

Just joking faith. I saw that look on your face.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

They always had sheep. There were different kinds of rods.

One was a long rod like this that they used to defend them against animals. Other ones were about half this length and they would cut it out of a root and it would have all these jagged edges on the end and it was like a club. And they would club to keep the animals off them.

But the rod and the staff was very important to the shepherd. It was very important to the sheep. There were tools of power and instruments of power.

He used the rod. A lot of times, as you said, count the sheep, as you can find out, as you count every tenth one, they would actually dip it in something and as the sheep went by, he would count the tenth one to give to the Lord.

They would use the rod to help point sheep in one way.

And so interesting is you can read about death and the shepherds that no matter what, they were used to the shepherd having this rod with him and during the day he would actually put it up on his shoulders so all the sheep could see it because they knew he was there and they knew there was protection. And at night, when it got so foggy, they couldn't see, the shepherd would tap the ground because then the sheep would know he's around. He's here. They would get set.

That's the ground. So important. And here, the staff, as they would always take something and curl it, as they would take a young stick and tie it around when it was green so that they could have a curve on it and they could actually reach around and separate the sheep or be able to pull one from a cliff.

Brethren, how powerful.

What did David sheep feel?

They saw this young boy that they knew. Wow! What a powerful young man he is. Those sheep had to know, this is a good shepherd. He's going to protect us. It doesn't matter what comes up there. He was so influenced by this spiritual shepherd that David looked at this non-forgions and said, what's the deal?

What's the deal?

How about us? Seen any nine-foot giants lately? I bet you have. I bet you've experienced them.

You know, not one time in God's womb does it mention a sheep carrying a rod.

It was for the shepherd. It was what? The shepherd. And God sometimes has to correct us a little bit, doesn't he? He may have to. He may have to get our attention, doesn't he? But aren't you glad he does? So many times I look at some trial that comes down the pike and I'm looking, oh, and then, you know, six months later you go, you know, that's one of the best things I ever learned. Man, my shepherd knew, didn't he?

That's what we want to do. Look to him. Look to our shepherd. He has the rod. He has the staff. He will take care of us.

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous. His ears are open to their cries, Psalm 34, verse 15.

Can I speed this up so I can get down here? Verse 5, you prepare David before me in the presence of my enemy. Yeah, David realized time after time, God's been so gracious, so giving. Been blessed this year? Have you been blessed? Do you feel like, well, it's not bad, but it could have been more?

Have you thought, I need a bigger table, more stuff on my table? Well, I want the whole world to see my table. Hmm?

You better reconsider the mindset before the Passover.

Some take the Passover just like the changing clothes.

Just another night, more than that. It's more than that. It's more than that.

Brethren, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Amen.

I thank God that He's my shepherd.

You're not my head with oil. Custom of the Middle East because it heats so much and it gets so dry, and they would actually take olive oil and put it on your head.

And so interesting because olive oil is so, so valuable. It's used for cooking, for skin, for healing, for fuel, for the lamps. So valuable. And it says that He anoints us with oil, and oil in the Bible is symbolic of His Holy Spirit.

He anoints us with His oil. He gives us His Holy Spirit. Do we use it, brethren?

And do we use it like we should?

Can we do a better job of using His oil?

Because He wants to anoint our head all the time. You know what He said about Stephen? He was a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. He is full of the Holy Spirit.

Wow. I want to be full of the Holy Spirit.

God needs to make sure we can use it.

It's one of the gifts from our shepherd. My cup runs over. My cup runneth over.

How much do you have? Mary and I were talking about that last night. Does your cup run over? Travel to a third world country.

Even travel to parts of this country. My cup runs over. I have physical. I have enough. We have food. Enough to eat.

Housing. Enough.

Go to places where there's nothing. They're sleeping on the ground. My cup runs over as I drove down the street last night, or yesterday, just before dark. And we saw this man walking down the street with a leg. He couldn't move. He wouldn't bend. Saw another guy who was homeless, been sitting on the bench all day long by himself.

Rather than my cup runs over.

I look at you and those that I've met, don't know all of you all the time, but guess what? What I've seen your cup runs over to. We've been so blessed.

Find someone whose mind is not right. Find someone, like someone said one time, I sometimes forget what to pray for. I said start with looking at your fingers. You got all five? How about your hand? How about your arm? Your toes? How about your tongue? Imagine getting your tongue cut out.

How about seeing, hearing, what Chris talked about?

My cup runs over.

Does your cup run over?

Are you thankful for that?

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. See, he says your kindness and love will always be with me. How great it is that we can have mercy.

You know, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Which do you want? You want justice and mercy. I'll take mercy every single time. I do not want what I deserve.

I want his mercy. And I want his goodness. And he said, all I give, I'll give you my mercy, I'll give you my goodness.

Just be my sheep. Just say, the Lord is my shepherd.

Every day. The Lord is my shepherd. How great it is.

I don't deserve half of what I have. I don't deserve that woman sitting right there. I know that. My cup runs over. Also, your wife. Many wives. We'll look around. Don't deserve it. My cup runs over.

And I am sheds in tears during the last few weeks when I've been here, as I've been talking my prayer when I walk into God, because I've missed her so much. I want her to bring her back to me safe.

Now I know my cup runs over.

My family. How precious they are. How precious Chloe is. Hmm. Beautiful blue eyes.

Cup runs over, Jeannie.

No matter how we look at it, our cup runs over. My family and I were dwelled in the house of the Lord forever. Isn't that what we want?

I want to be in God's kingdom forever. And he promises that to his sheep. He says, you can have eternal life. You can live forever and ever and ever. How long's forever?

Girl can you even put it down? How long's forever?

It's just...

And you'll be with him, and he'll be your shepherd, and he'll be your father. What a wonderful thing that is. Revelation 21. It shows us a time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and I'll read that as I close now.

So, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be with people, and God himself will be their God.

What more could we want?

The Lord is my shepherd, as the little girl said, that's all I want.

Is that all we want?

And more than we can live for eternity, we can be blessed.

He's sons of God. And it all starts with, the Lord is my shepherd. Make this your best, most spiritual spring festival season ever.

Remember that our defining statement out there today is, the Lord is my shepherd. It is who we are.